A provocative guide to rethinking connection and trust across generations in a digital-first world.
In Work for What's Next: Why Workplace Culture is Failing and How the Next Generation Can Fix It, researcher and entrepreneur Amanda Schneider, delivers a modern and accessible framework for building trust across generational, geographic, and digital divides. Schneider exposes how outdated, unwritten norms are holding us back and what to do instead.
The book reveals how to build authentic connections in an always on world by moving beyond generational stereotypes to uncover real patterns and prototype better solutions. Work for What's Next offers a research-driven roadmap for the futureempathetic, practical, and designed for a world that never stops changing.
Inside the book:
Research-backed insights into the hidden generational patterns that are shaping how we connect, collaborate, and lead today and will define the workplace of tomorrow Practical frameworks for building trust and authentic connection across generations, geographies and new ways of working in any industry Real-world examples and future-focused guidance to help you anticipate whats coming nextand prepare for it
Perfect for managers, executives, entrepreneurs, HR professionals, sellers and team leaders, Work for What's Next offers insights inspired by Gen Z - but designed to help all of us get the most from every member of todays workforce.
Foreword by Deborah Golden xi
Preface xv
Part I How We Got Here 1
Chapter 1 The Trust Gap No One Saw Coming 3
Chapter 2 Shift Happens: Why the Time to Rethink Everything Is Now 13
Part II Foundational Concepts 23
Chapter 3 The Era of Intentional Selfhood: Why It All Starts with Us 25
Chapter 4 Rethinking Work: From Where It Happens to How It Happens 35
Chapter 5 The Future Is SpeakingBut Are We Listening? 51
Part III 10 Fundamental Shifts 61
Chapter 6 Shift 1From Physical to "Phygital": The Future Belongs to Digital
Natives 63
Chapter 7 Shift 2From Authority to Authenticity: How to Build Trust in the
Digital Age 77
Chapter 8 Shift 3From "We Need" to "You Belong": How to Recruit with Purpose
and Impact 91
Chapter 9 Shift 4From Old-School Loyalty to Modern Commitment: The Rules to
Retain Have Changed 103
Chapter 10 Shift 5From Teams to Tribes: Building a Culture of Real
Connection 115
Chapter 11 Shift 6From Ladders to Jungle Gyms: The New Rules of Purpose at
Work 129
Chapter 12 Shift 7From Meeting Overload to Meaningful Collaboration:
Maximizing Synchronous and Asynchronous Time 143
Chapter 13: Shift 8From Messenger to Multiplier: How to Communicate to
Expand Your Impact 159
Chapter 14 Shift 9From Apprenticeship to Accessibility: Mentorship for Every
Generation 173
Chapter 15 Shift 10From Better Answers to Better Questions: Learning in the
AI Era 187
Conclusion 203
Notes 209
Acknowledgments 221
About the Author 225
Index 227
Amanda Schneider is Founder and President of ThinkLab, a research and content studio operating at the center of decision-making for the built environment. She built ThinkLab from the ground up and scaled it into a platform acquired by SANDOW, the largest media company in the interior design industry. Schneider studies work where the stakes are highestinside physical space investments, where organizations place their most permanent bets on how people connect, perform, and experience culture. Her talk, Work is broken. Gen Z can help fix it is featured on TED.com and has over 500,000 views. Her writing has appeared in Forbes, MIT Sloan Management Review, and The Huffington Post, and she is the host of the top 1% podcast, Design Nerds Anonymous.
